Play On! is a stage musical.
Cast[]
- Cheryl Freeman - Vy
- Andre De Shields - Jester
- Larry Marshall - Sweets
- Yvette Cason - Miss Mary
- Carl Anderson - Duke
- Lawrence Hamilton - Rev
- Tonya Pinkins - Lady Liv
Plot[]
Vy comes to swinging 1940s Harlem to write songs for the Duke, Harlem's greatest band leader. To overcome the sexist barriers of the time against women songwriters, she disguises herself as a man, Vy-man. She finds the Duke in tears over his loss of Lady Liv, Harlem's "queen of the blues". The Duke likes Vy-man's music, so he instructs the songwriter to go to the Cotton Club and present one of her songs as if it were a new song written by the Duke for Lady Liv. Lady Liv finds Vy-man charming, and a series of mistaken pairings results.
Meanwhile, several of the performers at the Cotton Club are rebelling against the overly serious and tyrannical club manager, Rev. Since Rev has a crush on Lady Liv, the performers persuade him that he should woo her by learning to swing and scat, giving up his old fashioned ballads. More confusion results before the truth is revealed, and the couples are appropriately united.
Musical numbers[]
- Act I
- "Take the 'A' Train" - Vy and Ensemble
- "Drop Me Off in Harlem" - Vy and Denizens of Harlem
- "I've Got to Be a Rug Cutter" - Jester, Vy and Cotton Club Dancers
- "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" - Duke
- "Mood Indigo" - Lady Liv
- "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" - Vy and Lady liv
- "Don't You Know I Care?" - Rev
- "It Don't Mean a Thing" - Jester, Miss Mary, Sweets and Rev
- "I Got It Bad" - Duke and Vy
- "Hit Me with a Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce" - Vy, Duke and Duke's Band
- "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" - Jester and Cotton Club Dancers
- "Everything but You" - Lady Liv and Vy
- "Solitude" - Vy, Duke, Lady Liv and Rev
- Act II
- "Black Butterfly" - Lady Liv's Escorts
- "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" - Lady Liv
- "I'm Beginning to See the Light" - Rev and Cotton Club Dancers
- "I Got It Bad" (Reprise) - Rev
- "I Didn't Know About You" - Vy
- "Rocks in My Bed" - Sweets and Jester
- "Something to Live For" - Rev and Lady Liv
- "I Love You Madly" - Miss Mary and Sweets
- "Prelude to a Kiss" - Vy and Duke
- "In a Mellow Tone" - Vy, Duke, Lady Liv, Rev and Denizens of Harlem